We love ruffles. And by that we mean we love grownup-girl ruffles, where an extravagance of fabric folds back and forth on itself, soft layers of shape and shadow, flattering the skin that peeks out beneath.

We also have an irrational love for shoes. And so imagine our personal nirvana when ruffles started showing up on shoes - tweaking the silhouette, flirting with the ankle like you wouldn’t believe.  Here’s Phillip Lim,  (top, left) drawing the eye down toward a vertical cascade of ruffles on the foot in his Spring ‘09 collection. Emma Cook (top, right) ruffles everything from shoulder to sole; Vivienne Westwood (above, left) climbs to the shin as well. And then there’s the red-heeled master himself, Christian Louboutin,  (above, right) doing the trend all strappy and swirly in python.

Do you need to wait until spring to play with the look? Mais non, mademoiselle! Prada is here to spoil you at Saks, with a 4” heel and a removable ankle strap on their ruffled sandal ($890, above left). Marc Jacobs answers your siren song with his teal ruffle-front pumps at Net-A-Porter ($417. above right), and Donna Karan dresses it up at Everything Shoes with her gold patent leather and mesh slides ($314).

You say you love the look, but not the princess price tags? Maybe Victoria’s Secret has your number, in red, black or gray ($99, above) by Steve Madden. Jeffrey Campbell can’t wait to heighten your senses with his Urban Outfitters tall black platforms ($135, below). And Miu Miu brings the ruffle back down to earth again at Bergdorf Goodman in a very pretty pair of ballerina flats ($178).